PHILADELPHIA — Fresh off a Toronto game in which he doubled his previous season total by scoring two goals, and hitting the post on a would-be third, veteran Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen went into Tuesday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils seemingly healthy, definitely willing and certainly wise.

Timonen knows exactly what’s at stake in this final stretch drive of what may be his final NHL season.

Or is it?

“I want to see how we do in these 18 games, and I want to feel the playoff atmosphere,” Timonen said. “That’s the goal. Hopefully we get there with this team, because once you get to the playoffs you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

But with both his 39th birthday (March 18) and an expiring contract looming, there’s little doubt that thoughts of retirement have at least crept into Timonen’s focused thinking.

“I feel great,” said Timonen, who seems to be almost free of the back issues that hampered him last season. “But it’s not how I feel now. It’s about getting ready for another season, play another 82 games. That’s the long run. But I’m going to put that behind me for now and think about it in the summertime.”

Timonen has a lot to consider, not the least of which is what he’d consider a fair contract for a player of his age. So far, the Flyers haven’t made any contract extension overtures. But for the most part, Timonen has to answer his own questions before his agent talks to the Flyers or any other team.

“I have to talk to my family,” Timonen said. “My son is getting to the age where he’s moving out of home soon and I haven’t seen him play in four months. So there are a lot of different issues coming into play. ... It’s never easy to leave the game, but sometimes it gets to the point where you might say, ‘OK, that’s enough.’ ... This job takes a lot of time away from your family. But winning a Stanley Cup, that’s an ultimate goal.”

Ideally, Timonen would like to think about whether or not he wants to play another season in the aftermath of winning a Cup. With a 14-season NHL career and more than 20 years of international play, including five Olympic tournaments, behind him, that’s the one silver chalice achievement that has eluded Timonen in his long career.

“That’s why I’m still here,” Timonen said. “It keeps you motivated every night, thinking about I still have a chance to get it. Hopefully it’s this year, and that’s why these next 18 games are really huge for me and our team.

“Get into the playoffs, then anything is possible. That’s my opinion. There’s always better teams that got more points in the standings, but once you get into the playoffs, they disappear. It doesn’t matter how many points you got in the regular season.

“So we have to get in, then anything’s possible.”

Including a run to a Stanley Cup ... then a glorious retirement setting?

“That would be a dream way to leave for anybody,” Timonen said.

***

It appears the league general managers have chickened out on the question of changing overtime rules. After two days of meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., there seems to be no sentiment toward changing the current system of a 4-against-4 session for five minutes, followed by a shootout.

Going into the meetings, it appeared a proposal of adding a 3-on-3 session to the 4-on-4 session, or better yet, replacing the current overtime with a 3-on-3 (both proposals would have cut down on the number of shootouts) had some buzz.

Alas, apparently it’s not to be.

Although shootouts are reviled by large segments of league personnel, especially coaches and veteran players, the GMs probably know any real change wouldn’t fly with the league commissioner ... who knows how much fans like shootouts.

What have the GMs accomplished other than expense account padding?

Well, it appears there will be proposals to change faceoffs. The hashmarks in the circles could be stretched from three feet to five feet, which would cut down on the childish shoving and stick stabbing between players waiting for the linesman to drop a puck during the faceoff.

And in a faceoff violation, instead of a player getting kicked out, he could be moved back 12 to 15 inches ... essentially giving the other guy a huge advantage when the puck is dropped.

***

New Jersey’s Jaromir Jagr commented on the scary incident in Dallas Monday night, when the Stars’ Rich Peverley, who has been dealing with a heart issue this past year, collapsed and had to be revived with chest compressions and was defibrillated.

It was while Jagr was in the KHL in 2008 that he was on a bench next to top Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov, when the 19-year-old collapsed and died of what was believed to be a genetic heart ailment.

“Scary stuff,” said Jagr, who briefly was a teammate of Peverley’s in Boston last season. “I think the trainers and the doctors did a great job and probably saved his life. Back in Russia, they weren’t ready for that.”

Jagr remembered thinking there was hope that Cherepanov was going to survive when they took him out in an ambulance, but he was devastated when he heard the news later.

“You don’t think it can end just like that,” Jagr said. “They couldn’t keep him alive.”